Ghassan Rubeiz - The Daily Star, 09 April 2007
WASHINGTON - The Palestinians are now in a good position to decide their own their future. In recent weeks the two rival Palestinians factions, Hamas and Fatah, united in a national reconciliation Cabinet. United around a non-violent struggle, the Palestinians have unlimited potential.
The two parties formed a new government that offered Israel a truce and expressed respect for past agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. They also showed signs of willingness to recognize Israel once it defines its borders with the Palestinians, eases the burden of occupation and responds humanely to the right of return of the Palestinian refugees. The Israelis have so far rejected the new Palestinian government and its agenda. The political and economic siege on the Palestinian community continues. A harsh occupation, illegal settlements and a wall of punitive isolation extend and expand.
Recently, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the Arab states renewed a peace offer to Israel. The Arab proposal exchanges normalization of relations with the Jewish state for returning to the "1967 borders." The renewed Arab peace plan asks Israel to withdraw from the Occupied Territories, and from Syria`s Golan Heights. More significant, the Saudi initiative includes an important prerequisite for a political settlement: the return of Palestinians refugees to their homeland. But in the Riyadh declaration, the "right-of-return" term was phrased with some ambiguity to allow compromise. The compromise means programming a brighter future for Palestinians living in camps without overwhelming Israel`s demography.
In a short period of time the dynamics have changed in the peace process. For the last seven years Israel, claiming that there is no serious partner on the Arab side, has been distancing itself from peace negotiations. Now the Palestinian partner, backed by the Arab states, is ready to tango but Israel has a twisted ankle.
Despite the hesitation, the latest word from Israel was that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was willing to meet with the heads of Arab states to discuss peace. The Arabs rejected this, saying an Israeli withdrawal had to come first. Israel is examining the significance of the new Palestinian and Arab landscape: Palestinian unity, a diplomatically softened Hamas and Arab unanimity seeking normalization. Never before have the Arabs articulated peace terms with such harmony and reason.
One would hope that with US support Olmert would more seriously explore the Arab peace offer. Since its creation, Israel has been situated in a culturally alien regional environment. It will take a strong leader to transform Israel`s crippling fear of its milieu (and the constantly changing conditions of the region) to a position of trust in partnership with Palestinians and the wider Arab community.
In response to the Riyadh peace plan, Israel claims that the right of return of Palestinians to their homeland is "ridiculous, as it would change the Jewish character of the nation." Israel ignores the recent Arab flexibility on the refugees because its leaders are much divided on this issue. It should take note that the concept of "return of refugees to homeland" could, in principle, mean "return to a future Palestinian state." Financial compensation and a program of economic empowerment for the refugees could play a key role in the restitution process.
There are already in the record of debate some useful ideas for dealing with the predicament of Palestinian refugees. In 2003 a group of politicians representing both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated a framework for peace which was called the Geneva Accord. This unofficial initiative, negotiated by Yossi Beilin and Yasser Abd Rabbo, provided creative guidelines for the future of the displaced Palestinians and Israeli settlers, and proposed that Israel recognize some moral and financial responsibility for the suffering and displacement of the Palestinians. According to the Geneva Accord, only a fraction of the Palestinian refugee population would be allowed to return to pre-1967 Israel, and only a fraction of the settlers would remain in the West Bank.
The peace activists of Geneva were clever in postulating that Israel`s acknowledgement of Palestinian displacement during the 1948 and 1967 wars would represent a breakthrough in reconciliation, with far-reaching implications. The reconciliation process would have to start with admission of wrongdoing and shared responsibility for the future of 5 million displaced Palestinians and 5 million residents of a future Palestinian state.
When Israel acknowledges the wrongdoing it has committed against the Palestinians over the past six decades it is likely to encourage other states to take responsibility in the Palestinian tragedy. Following Israel`s lead, the West as well as the Arab world should join in the process of assuming responsibility for the plight of the Palestinians.
When viewed in business terms the peace plan that Riyadh offered to Israel last week is a bargain: 78 percent of the land goes to Israel and 22 percent to the Palestinians. Israel continues to argue for "defensible borders" beyond the 1967 limits. But protecting borders, through space, walls or superior militarization would never assure bring Israel safety in the absence of understanding and mutual acceptance between the conflicting sides.
For how long will this Arab peace offer be valid? Israel should aggressively pursue the new peace offer, or risk being a hostage of insecurity for a very long time. Today the terms of peace are more equitable, the Palestinians are more ready for compromise and the Arabs are backing Palestinian conditions. In its March 30 edition, the American Jewish daily newspaper, The Forward, had this say: "The Saudi plan contains risks for Israel, but those are risks that Israelis are capable of navigating. The greatest danger right now is that a genuine opportunity for peace will be lost. The Saudis are taking an enormous risk in exposing themselves to hard-liners as Israel`s advocates. They need encouragement, not abuse."
If Palestinians can maintain their unity, Israel will soon have to think of withdrawal on reasonable terms of peace. And as history shows, Palestinians can only unite for long through peace-oriented resistance. The stronger the unity is among Palestinians, the shorter will be the period of waiting for Israel to end its oppressive occupation.
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* Ghassan Rubeiz ( grubeiz@philadelphia.net) is an Arab-American commentator and the former Middle East director of the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. This article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews)
